Archive

ROM: Space Knight… I first encountered this character when it was introduced as a toy. A 12″ action figure that I felt provided less action than I desired in a toy. Sure, he had light-up and noise making features and gadgets you could place in his hands. But his legs couldn’t move. How could I put him in what looked like the splits but was actually a “run super fast” position? For a toy this size, I was spoiled by my Bulletman action figure with multiple points of articulation.

A few years later, I discovered Marvel had put out a comic series about ROM. I only had a couple of issues that I had gotten when I purchased my friend’s collection (an event that more than doubled my collection that I call the Great 10th Grade Comic Acquisition). I read and re-read those few issues multiple times.

I don’t recall who drew the issues I had. But I did have ROM annual #3, one of the last ROM comics. It guest starred The New Mutants which was becoming one of my favorite comic series. And I loved this Bill Sienkiewicz cover.

Just recently, while perusing my Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, I came across the ROM entry. I remembered reading the comic and being inspired by the art and concept. So I decided to try my hand at drawing ROM. He has a pretty simplistic design. The fun really comes in playing with the metallic textures.

I don’t know who owns the license, but it would be kinda cool to see ROM re-enter the Marvel Universe… Assuming there was a big enough demand for that sort of thing.

As a kid I always loved superheroes. Superfriends being a favorite cartoon.

But in the early 1980′s, NBC added Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends to their Saturday morning line-up… Spidey’s amazing friends being Iceman form the original team of X-Men and a brand new character created for the show, Firestar. This show really introduced me to Marvel Universe. It guest starred characters like Captain America, Sub Mariner, Iron Man, and Dr. Strange.

My favorite 2 episodes were the ones where Iceman, and then Firestar, reunited with the X-Men. That was the first time I had heard about the X-Men and they blew me away. It wasn’t long after seeing them in those cartoons that I started reading Marvel Comics to discover more about all of these characters.

In fact, the first issue of my Uncanny X-Men subscription was issue #193. This was the issue that introduced Firestar into the Marvel Universe. She later showed up in 1990′s New Warriors. I really enjoyed the first 25 issues of that series. I lost touch with her as she joined the Avengers in the late 1990′s/early 2000′s. But now she is back in the new series, Young Allies. I think that comic comes out today. So I’m gonna check it out and see what this character is up to.